


It Could've Been A Catastrophe

by predilection



Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers Dino Charge
Genre: Cats, Fluff, M/M, Ridiculous
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-13
Updated: 2016-11-13
Packaged: 2018-08-30 16:27:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8540194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/predilection/pseuds/predilection
Summary: After Riley goes missing, a cat shows up at Chase's door.





	

**Author's Note:**

> A ridiculous story about misunderstandings, feelings, and a very fluffy cat.

"What did you just say?" Chase asks, his mouth hanging open.

Riley's eyes are downcast and shifts his feet, obviously uncomfortable about the conversation they're having. "I like you," he repeats, more quietly this time.

Chase stares at him, frozen in shock. It's like his body stopped obeying his commands the moment Riley spoke. He manages to close his mouth and open it again, but he can't think of a way to articulate all the things he's suddenly feeling at once so he doesn't say anything at all.

Riley shifts on his feet again and when he raises his head to look at Chase, he looks like he's about to cry, his eyes bright with unshed tears. "Just... just forget I said anything, okay?" he says and it's obvious that the smile he offers Chase is forced. Then he pats Chase's arm and runs off towards the museum exit of the command center.

Chase watches him go, and it's only when Riley leaves his sight that Chase's shock ebbs enough that he regains control of his body. He sucks in a deep, shaky breath and rushes after Riley.

*

"Riley!" Chase shouts, running up to him.

Riley stills but doesn't turn around, and Chase can tell how tense he is by the set of his shoulders. Chase hesitates, not wanting to make things worse.

It's then that their comms chirp, and Chase curses his luck. They both have them out and open in seconds.

"What is it, Ms. Morgan?" Riley asks before Chase can.

"There's a monster at Beachside Plaza. The others are already on their way."

"Got it," Riley replies. When he turns to Chase, his energem in hand and ready to morph, his eyes are still glassy and his jaw is clenched. 

As they ride their dino cycles to the plaza, Chase tells Riley, "After this fight is over, I want to talk with you, if that's alright." He has so much he wants to say to Riley, but he knows now's not the time, especially since they have a city to save.

Riley doesn't reply until the plaza is in sight, and when he does, he doesn't sounds enthusiastic. "Okay, Chase."

*

The monster looks like a giant cat made out of blue and pink cotton candy. As they engage it, Riley quips, "Good thing I'm a dog person."

Chase nails the monster in the chest with a blaster bolt and adds, "Well, I'm a cat person, and I can tell you that this monster is still going down."

Chase hears Riley snort in amusement over the comm, and feels some of the tension between them fade. Knowing that Riley's still willing to laugh at his one-liners gives Chase hope that when this battle is over, Riley will be willing to listen when he explains why he reacted the way he did.

*

They get separated when multiple swarms of Vivix appear. 

Thankfully, Tyler, Koda, Shelby and Ivan arrive at the same time and help even out the odds. Still, when the cat monster makes a break for it, they're all so absorbed with fighting the Vivix that it's hard for any of them to follow it.

"I'm the closest. If you can cover me, I can go after the monster," Riley suggests.

"Alright," Tyler calls back, as he and Shelby start taking out the Vivix closest to Riley with their blasters.

Out of the corner of his eye, Chase sees Riley run after the cat monster. He silently wishes him luck, and then turns his attention back to the foot soldiers that are trying to lay waste to the plaza and the terrified people still trapped inside it.

*

When they finally defeat enough of the Vivix that they can afford to give Riley backup, Chase opens his comm and asks Kendall, "Where are Riley and the monster?" Kendall directs him to a park a few blocks away and Chase is back on his dino cycle and heading in their direction in a matter of seconds.

When he arrives at the park, Riley is nowhere to be seen. The cat monster is there though, and is running alongside a fountain at the center of the park, hunched over and scanning the ground as if it's looking for something.

"Have you found it yet?" someone shouts, and Chase turns to see Fury approaching the cat monster. He's thankful neither of them have noticed him yet.

"Uh... not yet, sir," the cat monster stutters out, its head bowing in deference to Fury.

"Well, hurry up!" Fury yells, raising his sword threateningly in the cat monster's direction.

The cat monster continues searching by the fountain. "It has to be around here somewhere," it mutters to itself.

Chase backs out of earshot, crouches behind a tree and opens his comm. "The cat monster and Fury are here. They seem to be looking for something," he reports to Kendall. "And I can't see Riley anywhere."

"Are you sure?" Kendall asks. "My scanners tell me he's right in front of you." 

Chase looks around the tree. There's no one else in the park except Fury and the cat monster. He's well aware that Kendall tracks them via their comms, and that Riley definitely had his when he pursued the monster. Chase frowns. "I don't see him." 

"Acknowledged. I'll get you back up as soon as possible," Kendall tells him.

Chase comms Riley. Riley doesn't pick up so he tries again. He waits a full minute for a response, but still gets no answer.

Chase's heartrate picks up as he realizes that something is very, _very_ wrong. 

He trades his comm for his blaster and darts out from his hiding place. He fires two shots, hitting the cat monster in the side with one and Fury in the back with the other.

"Hey, furball!" Chase shouts. To his amusement, both the cat monster and Fury turn in his direction. "Where's the green ranger?"

Fury laughs, a horrible, grating sound that only increases Chase's worry. "Good luck finding him. Take care of this, Catalyzer." Fury vanishes and the next thing Chase knows, the cat monster -- Catalyzer, apparently -- is charging at him.

"Where's the green ranger?" Chase shouts again, dodging its energy attack and landing a kick to its midsection.

Catalyzer grunts. "Oof! That hurt! And just for that, I'm not telling!"

It readies another energy attack but before it has a chance to launch it, it's hit in the chest and shoulder by pink and blue energy bolts and stumbles backwards. Shelby and Koda rush to Chase's side, followed by Tyler and Ivan. "You okay?" Shelby asks.

"Fine," he replies. "But this monster did something to Riley!"

"What?" Tyler asks. He points his blaster at Catalyzer. "What did you do to the green ranger?"

"Uh," Catalyzer says, eyeing them warily like it only just figured out that it had five power rangers to contend with on its own. "I don't care what Fury says. This is not worth being vaporized over!" A moment later, Catalyzer disappears in a beam of pink light.

Chase runs towards where it was last standing, his head whipping around as he looks around the park. Catalyzer is gone, and there is still no sign of Riley. He disengages his morph, cups his hands over his mouth and shouts, "Riley!"

There's no response.

He opens his comm. "Are you still getting a signal from Riley?"

On his screen, Kendall shakes her head, grim-faced. "I'm still picking up his comm signal in front of you. Maybe twenty feet."

In front of Chase is a large brick planter that's about three feet tall and twenty feet long, filled with bright red and orange flowers. It blocks Chase's view of the area immediately before him. Chase runs forward and jumps over it. It's as his feet hit the ground that he spots a pile of green clothing lying near a park bench. The other rangers, now also de-morphed, catch up to him as he kneels next to it. 

Chase feels like he can't breathe as he lifts a familiar green polo shirt from the pile -- it's the shirt Riley had been wearing before the fight began. Under the shirt, are Riley's pants, boxers, socks, and shoes.

"Do these not belong to Sir Riley?" Ivan asks behind him and Chase nods, putting the shirt aside and picking up one of Riley's shoes. The pile of clothing shifts in the process and something clatters to the ground. Tyler picks it up. It's Riley's comm. Chase looks to Tyler and then to the others. He discovers looks of panic on all of their faces that he knows mirrors his own.

"What happen to Riley?" Koda asks, worry plain in his voice.

"It's like... he just disappeared," Shelby says.

"Fury and Catalyzer -- that's what Fury called the monster -- were looking for something," Chase remembers. "Not someone. And I heard Fury say that 'he doesn't have it'. What if he was talking about Riley not having whatever they were looking for?"

"His energem," Tyler says, snapping his fingers. "What do you want to bet he was talking about Riley's energem? I mean, they're after it and it's not here."

"But why wouldn't his energem be here?" Shelby asks.

Chase's hand tightens its hold on Riley's shoe. He makes himself let it go and brings himself to his feet. "Catalyzer was searching by the fountain," Chase tells them. 

They don't need to say anything else. The next moment, all five of them have fanned out, searching the park for Riley's energem. Chase half-listens to Tyler update Kendall on the situation as he walks in circles around nearby benches and tries to ignore the way he can hear his heartbeat pounding in his ears.

"Riley," he finds himself whispering. "What happened to you?"

Chase feels something warm against his chest. He looks down and discovers that his energem is glowing through his t-shirt. He pulls it out by its cord and when he turns around to tell the others about it, the glow of his energem fades. He turns back in the direction he was originally facing and it glows brightly again. "Guys!" he calls out, taking a step forward and letting the energem's brightness guide him in the right direction. 

They're all at his side when, at his energem's insistence, he crouches down in front of the planter. He's wondering if they're going to have to dig up some flowers when he notices a small opening between two of the bricks that make up planter's sides. Sticking out of the opening, he sees a small bit of a black cord.

He recognizes the cord for what it is, but it's still a shock when he pulls at it and Riley's energem tumbles out of the opening and into his hand.

*

Back at the command center, Chase tells them everything he remembers about the conversation he overheard between Fury and Catalyzer as Kendall scans Riley's clothing, searching for clues about what could've happened to him.

"He must've hid his energem," Shelby says. "He had to have known they were after it."

"For his energem to be tangible, he couldn't have been morphed," Kendall points out. "Something had to have happened to him to cause his morph to disengage before he hid it."

"And what happened to him after he hid it? Could they have captured him?" Tyler asks.

Chase rubs a hand over his face. "But then why did we find his clothing? It doesn't make sense."

"We'll figure it out," Kendall tells them. "Though I may not have any results for you until tomorrow." She sighs. "You should all go home and try to get some rest. There's not much we can do right now."

Chase feels helpless and hates it. He hopes Sledge isn't keeping Riley in a cell on his ship or that Catalyzer hasn't got Riley trapped in its belly or something. He wants some reassurance that Riley is safe.

If he's honest with himself, that's not the only reason Chase feels anxious. He keeps thinking about how hurt Riley had looked after his confession. He can't help but worry that wherever Riley is, he's not only concerned for his own safety, but also feeling miserable because he thinks Chase rejected him. In the face of Chase's overall worry for Riley's safety, it's a minor concern, but it still bothers him.

Chase feels a hand on his shoulder and lifts his head to find Koda offering him a small smile. "Don't worry. We find Riley," he says, giving Chase's shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

"We will," Chase agrees, not even willing to think of the alternative.

*

As Chase rides his skateboard home, the sky opens up and it starts pouring rain. He manages to make it to his apartment building just as lightning streaks through the sky, followed shortly by the ominous roar of thunder.

He's glad to be back in his apartment, and he heads straight for the shower. The hot water warms him up, but it does little to help him relax. He thinks about Riley trapped inside Catalyzer or inside Sledge's ship and his hands shake. Still, when he dries himself off and puts on dry, clean clothing, he feels a little better. 

He's in the middle of making himself dinner when he hears it -- a soft scratching noise. It's a noise he's familiar with. He knows it from the times he's cat-sit Tabatha for Moana. It's the sound of Tabatha scratching at a door. 

But Chase isn't cat-sitting. He's wondering if he's hearing the noise from one of his neighbor's units and walks out into his living room to try to discern the source of the sound.

It's coming from his front door.

The second Chase cracks his front door open, a small orange blur darts into his apartment and under his couch.

"Uh," Chase says, nonplussed. He shuts his door and then cautiously crouches down next to his couch and peers underneath it.

Bright green eyes stare back him. The eyes are attached to an orange tabby cat with fur that's longer than Tabatha's. The cat's soaking wet and looks frightened.

"Hello there," Chase says gently, even though he's confused as to why there's suddenly a cat in his apartment.

Outside, there's a crack of thunder.

It doesn't take Chase long to put the pieces together. "You were outside in the storm, weren't you?" 

He turns off the stove -- he'll finish making his dinner later -- before fetching a towel from the closet. Then he reaches under the couch, extending his arm towards the cat. He offers it his hand, and to Chase's surprise, it doesn't back further away from him or try to sniff his fingers. It just stares at him. 

Chase withdraws his arm. "I'm not going to hurt you, mate," he tells the cat, wishing it could understand him. "If you want to come out from under there, I can help you get dry."

After staring at him for another minute or so, the cat slowly crawls towards him. The second it's free from under the couch, it shakes itself like a dog trying to get dry.

Chase pats his thigh. "Come here," he says.

The cat hesitates, but walks towards him.

"See, that wasn't so bad," Chase says, smiling down at the cat when it come up to him. He pets it on the head and behind the ears but the cat ignores the attention. It plants its front legs on Chase's thigh and meows up at Chase like it's trying to tell him something.

"Don't worry, I haven't forgotten," Chase tells the cat, reaching for the towel. He rubs it against the cat's fur to dry it. The cat meows at him again, before rubbing itself against the towel, helping Chase dry it off.

On closer inspection, the cat is indeed a long-haired orange tabby, but the fur on its chin and stomach are white. The cat doesn't have a collar, but doesn't look scraggly like the strays in the area. It's also a boy.

"What were you doing scratching at my door?" Chase asks after he's gotten the worst of the water out of his fur. "Do you belong to one of my neighbors?

The cat meows at him yet again.

"Are you hungry?"

The cat paws at his thigh.

"Okay, let's get you some food," Chase says and bring himself to his feet. Thankfully, he still has cat food left over from the last time he cat-sit Tabatha. He opens a can and spoons half of it onto a small plate. When he offers the plate to the cat, the cat sniffs at it and then rears back as if in alarm. He looks up at Chase and meows again.

"Are you trying to tell me you don't like chicken?" Chase asks, amused, and the cat just meows louder. 

Chase sits on his kitchen floor next to the cat. He tries to pet the cat, but the cat ignores him and climbs onto his lap. Chase feels a pull around the back of his neck at the same time the cat bites his energem and tugs on it with his mouth as if it's a cat toy.

Chase pulls his energem away from the cat and tucks it under his shirt to keep the cat from getting at it again. As he does so, his thoughts turn again to Riley. He sighs and strokes the cat's still damp fur. This time, the cat lets itself be pet. 

*

After the sun sets, Chase calls Kendall on his comm. "Any news?" he asks. The cat, which is lying next to him on the couch, raises his head at the noise.

"The results still aren't in." She sighs. "I promise I'll let you all know the second I know something."

"Thanks," Chase says. 

"What is it, Chase?" Kendall asks, observant as always.

"I'm worried about him," Chase replies.

"I can tell, but there's something else going on, isn't there?" Kendall asks. "You look like you have a lot on your mind."

Chase frowns and runs his hand down the cat's spine. "It's complicated."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Kendall asks.

Chase hasn't talked to anyone about this, so it takes him a few moments to tell Kendall, "Before Riley disappeared, we... had a misunderstanding."

Kendall's voice is soft when she asks, "What kind of misunderstanding?" 

Chase leans against the back of the couch and tilts his head back to stare at the ceiling. "The kind of misunderstanding that..." Chase blinks. His eyes are wet.

"Chase?"

"I like Riley," he says, admitting it aloud for the first time.

Kendall is silent and Chase doesn't look away from the ceiling to see her reaction.

"I've liked him since the mess with Cavity," he confesses. "I tried to ignore how much I was attracted to him and it was easy when I thought he couldn't stand me. Then he apologized to me for assuming I didn't take being a ranger seriously and I knew I was falling for him... 

"I've done my best to hide the way I feel and move on. I haven't wanted to burden him with my feelings or make him have to let me down gently since I thought I already knew his answer, and then today..." 

"Chase, what happened?" Kendall asks, concern audible in her tone.

"He caught me off guard. I... I made him think that I didn't like him. I made him think that..." Chase's voice breaks and he heaves in a deep breath. He, of all people, knows how much rejection hurts. "Then he disappeared. I didn't get a chance to make things right. I'm already so worried that Sledge has him and is doing who-knows-what to him. And I can't help but wonder if what happened between us... is making it worse for him. He was already hurting when--" Chase wipes at his eyes as he breaks down, his breath coming out in harsh sobs. 

"Oh, Chase," Kendall whispers. 

The cat, too, seems to sense his distress, because he crawls onto Chase's lap and, as if to comfort him, rubs his head against Chase's elbow.

*

Chase knows he should take the cat door-to-door to figure out who he belongs to or at least make some sort of "Cat Found" poster, but he's exhausted and miserable after the day he's had. "I'll help you find your way home tomorrow," he promises the cat.

He places a water dish next to the food dish -- the cat still hasn't touched it -- and also sets up a litter box so the cat can spend the night with him. Then he strips to his boxers and face plants onto his bed. It takes him what feels like forever to fall asleep, his mind providing him with images of Riley scared and heartbroken and spending the night alone in terrifying locations like Sledge's ship. 

He wakes a few hours later to the sound of something falling to the ground elsewhere in the apartment and calls out, "Is that you, cat?"

He hears a faint meow and no other noises, and this time, he's so tired, he falls asleep again almost instantly.

The next time Chase wakes, it's to the sound of his alarm. He turns it off without lifting his head from his pillow, and opens his eyes to see something orange and fluffy in front of his face. It takes him a second to shake off his disorientation and remember the cat from the night before. Then he remembers Riley's disappearance and he sucks in a deep, anxious breath.

The cat is curled up on the pillow next to him. His fur dried overnight, and it's even fluffier than Chase expected it to be. Chase runs a hand down the cat's side, and the cat shifts, tilting his head back and exposing the underside of his neck. Chase stokes its chin with one finger and the cat starts to purr. 

Despite the apprehension he's feeling, Chase's lips quirk upwards. "Good morning, kitty," he says.

The cat jumps up, startled, and once he gets to his feet, he stares at Chase with his big green eyes. Then he jumps off the bed and bolts out the bedroom door.

"Sorry to scare you," Chase calls after the cat. 

He climbs out of bed and finds clean clothing to put on. Once he's dressed, he sits on the edge of his bed and comms Kendall. Kendall answers almost instantly. She has dark circles under her eyes and looks wrung-out. Chase realizes she's been up all night and feels bad for bothering her.

"I haven't found Riley," she tells him and frowns. "But the results are almost in."

"I'll be there within the hour," he says, before closing their connection. 

He's on auto-pilot when he leaves his room, so he almost trips over the things that are unexpectedly piled up outside his bedroom door. The pile includes his green dish towel, a pair of socks with clovers on them that were in his laundry basket, and one of his collector skateboards -- the one with a picture of a forest printed on it. Sitting next to the pile of things is the cat who meows at him insistently, pawing at the towel.

Chase sighs. "Why are you tearing up my apartment? Is it because you want attention?" he asks, bending down to pet the cat.

The cat accepts the pets but meows some more.

When Chase walks passed the cat into the bathroom to wash his face, the cat lowers his head. Chase knows it's just his imagination, but it almost looks like the cat is sighing.

*

As Chase eats breakfast, he's happy to note that the cat ate the food he put out the night before, so he puts out more food for the cat. He picks up his skateboard, and goes to his room to grab his backpack.

The cat is sitting on his bed, pawing at his comm. Chase pulls it out from under his paws and shoves it into his pocket next to his cell phone. The cat meows at him and Chase tells him, "When I get back, we'll find your owners, okay?"

The cat bites Chase's shirt when Chase makes to stand, pulling backwards as if trying to prevent Chase from leaving.

"I'll be back," Chase promises him, tugging his shirt out of the cat's mouth and petting his head.

*

Chase finds Koda and Ivan sitting with Kendall in the command center when he gets there. Chase takes the tablet Ivan hands him and reviews Kendall's search results even though he can only make sense of maybe thirty percent of what he's reading. 

After Shelby and Tyler arrive, Kendall briefs the five of them together. She tells them that she was able to find an energy signature on Riley's clothing that matches Catalyzer's energy signature, but little else.

"So what do we do now?" Shelby asks.

"If we need to mount a rescue, last night Shelby and I came up with an idea for getting onto Sledge's ship," Tyler says. 

Kendall shakes her head. "We have no proof he's being held there."

"We have no proof he's not," Chase points out.

"The best thing we can do is wait for Catalyzer to attack again," Kendall says. "It was definitely involved in whatever happened to Riley. Maybe if we can capture it, we can get it to tell us where Riley is or discover more clues that can help us find him ourselves."

"What if it doesn't show up again?" Chase asks.

"Then we come up with a new plan," Kendall replies.

Shelby voices what he wants to say. "I don't like the idea of waiting, not when Riley is out there somewhere..."

"Neither do I, but risking yourselves unnecessarily isn't going to help either," Kendall reminds them.

*

They spend hours planning their trap for Catalyzer. After that, they wait.

Chase hates waiting, and after a few hours, he gets on his skateboard and rides over to the park where Riley disappeared the day before. They had combed through the area with scanners for clues, but Chase searches it again just in case they missed something. He doesn't find anything.

The park is relatively close to his apartment, so he goes home afterwards. The cat stands on its hind legs and paws at Chase's thighs the second he's through the door.

Chase puts down his skateboard and kneels on the floor, petting him. 

His thoughts turn, once again to Riley, and it's only when the cat meows at him that he notices that he's staring out into space. "Sorry," he says. He stands and tries to focus on the things he can do. He's fetching his laptop, hoping to at least finish a "Cat Found" poster when the cat runs to the kitchen and starts meowing again.

"I fed you a few hours ago," he calls out to the cat as he settles himself down on his couch and powers up his laptop.

The cat doesn't stop meowing for a full minute.

Chase sighs and walks into the kitchen. "Look, I'm not going to feed you more than what's healthy just because--" Chase cuts himself off when something crunches under his feet. He looks down and sees a box of cheerios as well as what looks like half of its contents on the floor.

"Cat!" he shouts, annoyed. That box was unopened and on top of the fridge. He lifts one foot to examine the crushed cereal stuck to the bottom of his sock. "What do you think you're do--"

Chase cuts himself off the moment he looks away from his foot and towards the rest of the kitchen floor.

The cheerios have been pushed together to make letters. He blinks at them. It takes him a second to comprehend what he's seeing, and even then, he still has trouble making sense of it.

Written in cheerios on his kitchen floor are the words: _I AM RILEY!_

The cat uses one of his paws to nudge a cheerio at the top of the "Y" that was slightly mis-aligned back into place. Then he looks up at Chase expectantly. 

"No way," Chase says, staring back at the cat.

The cat meows.

Without looking away from the cat, Chase pulls out his comm. "Uh, Kendall," he says.

"Chase?" she asks.

"I think you need to get over here," he tells her. "I think I found Riley."

"My scanners tell me that you're at home," she points out, sounding confused.

"I'm aware of that," Chase says.

"Is he okay?" Kendall asks.

"Uh, I'm not sure," he replies. "Hurry, please."

Chase pockets his comm, and then sits down on the floor. Cereal crunches underneath him in the process, but he doesn't care. His attention is still fixed on the cat.

"Riley?" he asks.

The cat meows again, and jumps onto his lap

Chase's arms curl around the cat. Bewildered, he thinks: _the cat is Riley_.

He lets out a deep breath. He has so many questions and Riley being a cat is an unexpected shock, but it's also a relief. It means that Sledge doesn't have Riley and that he isn't trapped somewhere awaiting rescue. Chase tightens his hold on Riley and buries his face in his fur.

*

Kendall arrives with Koda, and Chase explains the cat that ran into his apartment the night before as he leads them towards his kitchen.

Kendall's eyebrows furrow as she takes in the writing in cereal on his floor and the fluffy orange tabby at Chase's feet.

"You're telling me that this cat is Riley," she says.

Riley meows at her as Koda bends down to pet him. "Riley is cat?" Koda asks, and Riley rubs his face against Koda's hands.

Kendall takes out a scanner and runs it over Riley. She frowns at whatever she's seeing so Chase asks, "What is it?"

"I scanned for the energy signature I found on Riley's clothing. The cat is covered in it," she replies. "And the cat also shows very faint, but clear energy markings of the--" She shakes her head like she can't believe what she's saying. "--of the green energem." She stares at the cat in shock and her voice is faint when she says, "That really is you, Riley, isn't it?"

Riley looks up at her and meows.

*

Kendall drives them all back to the command center. Riley curls up next to Chase in the backseat of the truck and Chase looks out the window. They pass a copse of trees and it makes Chase think the skateboard Riley left outside his bedroom door that morning.

Chase's eyes go wide. "They were all green," he realizes. Riley raises his head and stares at him. Chase meets his eyes. "You were trying to tell me."

"Riley speak to Chase?" Koda asks from the passenger seat.

"This morning, Riley left green items outside my bedroom door."

"Chase?" Kendall asks, peering at him briefly through the rear-view mirror.

"He's been leaving me clues," Chase explains.

Riley sits up so he can paw at Chase's t-shirt, right where his energem rests underneath.

Chase fishes it out as he realizes that that had also been a clue. "And you weren't playing with my energem like I thought. You were trying to tell me then, too."

Riley meows at him.

Chase remembers coming into his room to see the cat pawing at his comm. In retrospect, Riley was trying to make it obvious long before he literally had to spell out his predicament to Chase.

"I'm sorry I didn't figure it out sooner," he tells Riley.

*

The second they get inside the command center, Riley runs up to the crystal beds where they often store their energems. Only the green energem is present and Riley stares up at it. 

"We found it between the bricks of a planter," Chase explains. "You hid it there, didn't you?"

Riley meows. Then he jumps up onto Kendall's workbench and paws at his own clothing.

"We found these too," Chase says around something heavy in his throat, remembering the terror he felt when he discovered that Riley was missing.

"Cat explains clothes," Koda says.

"It does, Koda," Kendall says. "We found Riley's clothing because Riley had be turned into a cat." She frowns like she never imagined to hear such a sentence come out of her mouth.

While Riley being turned into a cat explains why they only found his clothing, it doesn't explain why they failed to find Riley's kitty self in the park. 

"What happened to you?" Chase asks Riley.

Riley shifts and he looks like a cat that's uncomfortable -- like Tabatha did that one time she managed to roll over into her water bowl and get her fur wet. 

"We need to work on a better method of communication than meowing and breakfast cereal," Kendall says.

It's then that an alarm blares.

Kendall rushes to her main computer terminal. "Catalyzer is back," Kendall tells them. "It's at the harbor. I'll contact Shelby, Ivan and Tyler and get them to meet you there."

"We'll get you some answers," Chase promises Riley, before he and Koda morph and head towards the harbor.

*

While Chase and Koda distract Catalyzer and set up the device Kendall made, Shelby, Tyler and Ivan take care of the two squads of Vivix that Sledge also sent to earth.

The device works by resonating at a frequency that neutralizes Catalyzer's energy signature, rendering it harmless and keeping it from teleporting. It also traps it inside an energy barrier. The second they get Catalyzer in position and Koda activates the device, Chase hears a humming sound. The next thing he knows, Catalyzer is cursing and slamming its fists ineffectually against the energy barrier keeping it in place. Hoping that this is his chance to get some much needed answers, Chase steps up to the energy barrier surrounding Catalyzer, leaving Koda to help the others battle the Vivix. 

"You turned the green ranger into a cat!" he shouts at Catalyzer. He activates his comm so it'll pick up and broadcast Catalyzer's reply.

Catalyzer stops trying to break through the energy barrier and glares at Chase. "He said he preferred dogs! I taught him a lesson!"

The statement is a confirmation that Catalyzer is responsible for Riley's current state, but it's also baffling. "Seriously?" Chase asks. "All this because you were upset about _pet preferences_?"

Catalyzer crosses its arms. "And it made finding his energem easier!"

Chase crosses his own arms. "Did it really?" 

Catalyzer's bravado falters. "It would've if he didn't manage to run off with it! That cat was fast on his feet!"

As Chase starts to piece together the clues about how Riley's transformation came to be, he drops his arms to his sides, his hands in tight fists. Riley hadn't hidden his energem before he was turned into a cat, but afterwards... and if he had been running...

"Change him back!" Chase shouts.

"Let me out!" Catalyzer shouts back.

"No way!" Chase tells it. "Especially not until you've reversed the damage you've done!"

Catalyzer growls in displeasure. "I can't," it says, looking away from Chase.

"You can't what?" Chase asks, fearing the answer.

"I can't change him back," Catalyzer replies.

Chase takes a deep breath to calm himself. It doesn't help much. His hand is on his blaster when he demands, "Why not?" 

Catalyzer seems to sense Chase's anger because it takes a step backwards at the same time it raises its hands up in the air between them in a placating gesture. "The spell doesn't work that way," it hurries to say. "It wears off with time!"

"You better be telling me the truth," Chase tells Catalyzer.

Catalyzer gulps audibly.

"Catalyzer! What are you doing? Why aren't you defeating the rangers and taking their energems?" a familiar voice asks and Chase turns his back to Catalyzer to face Fury, his blaster out and aimed at Fury's chest.

"Uh, well, sir," Catalyzer says behind him. "I seem to be trapped right now."

"Trapped?" Fury asks, and before Chase can react, Fury raises his sword and hits the device keeping Catalyzer contained with a lightning bolt. Sparks fly as the device explodes and the next thing Chase knows, he's turning back towards Catalyzer just in time to dodge one of its energy attacks.

Koda and Ivan join the fight against Catalyzer, and in his peripheral vision, Chase sees Shelby and Tyler face off against Fury. 

Fury disappears at the same time Sledge makes Catalyzer grow. During the megazord battle that follows, Chase comms Kendall and asks, "Do we have any proof that what Catalyzer was saying was true?" 

Kendall grins. "The energy signature belonging to Catalyzer that I detected on Riley has lessened since I first scanned him. It looks like the spell _is_ wearing off."

"Good," Chase says. He's relieved that Riley will get to be human again, and he feels satisfied when together, they use the Para-Stego Formation of the megazord to defeat Catalyzer once and for all.

*

Riley is still a cat when they return to the command center.

"The energy signature has decreased even more," Kendall reports, smiling. "I can't say how long it will take exactly, but the spell should wear off in the next twenty-four hours."

Riley meows.

"That's wonderful news," Ivan says as Koda and Tyler let out whoops of relief.

"One more day," Shelby says, smiling too.

"Or less," Kendall reminds them.

Chase is grinning when he walks up to Kendall's workbench, and Riley rubs his head against the hand Chase offers him.

"Riley," Kendall says, addressing him. "You can stay here tonight if you want, or one of us can take you home if you'd rather wait there. After all this, I'd understand it if you wanted to be in your own space." 

Riley tilts his head as if he's considering his options. Then he bats his head against Chase's stomach.

Kendall understands what Riley's trying to say before Chase does. "You want to stay with Chase?" she asks.

Chase startles as Riley stares up at him. "You're welcome to stay with me," Chase tells him softly. 

Riley bats his head against Chase's stomach again and Chase puts his hands down gently on Riley's back.

*

It's after midnight by the time they get back to Chase's apartment.

Chase yawns the moment they get inside. He shoves some leftovers in the microwave and then looks down at Riley in contemplation.

"Do you want some cat food?"

Riley tail swishes unhappily and Chase can tell that he's being glared at.

"Okay, no cat food," Chase says, pulling his dinner out of the microwave. He sits down on the kitchen floor and puts the plate of leftovers down next to him.

He breaks off a small piece of chicken breast and holds it out to Riley. Riley sniffs at it and then takes it from his fingers.

"So you do like chicken," Chase says, amused, and has to pause to remind himself that the cat he had fed earlier was Riley, even if he didn't know it yet. 

Chase pulls the rest of the chicken breast apart into tiny pieces and puts it in a small plate for Riley. Then he takes some cold cuts out of the fridge and offers them to Riley too. Riley ignores them so Chase eats them along with the potatoes and vegetables on his own plate.

He washes and refills the water dish and catches Riley watching him when he puts the dish back on the floor. "It's only for one more day," he tells Riley.

Then it hits him. In a less than a day, he'll be able to tell Riley how he feels and why he reacted the way he did. It makes him wonder, if Riley was upset at him...

"Why did you want to come home with me?" he asks Riley.

Riley rubs his head against Chase's thigh and meows softly at him, and Chase isn't sure what to make of that.

*

Riley jumps onto his bed a few minutes after Chase settles under the covers. Chase pats the bedspread next to him, beckoning Riley closer the same way he does when Tabatha's over and then wants to kick himself. He didn't even ask Riley if he wanted to sleep on his bed.

Chase lifts his head from his pillow. "Do you want me to put some blankets on the couch?"

Riley curls up in a ball on the other side of the bed, resting his head on his paws and closing his eyes.

"I guess not," Chase says. "Wake me if you need anything." He shuts his own eyes. Between everything that's happened over the past two days, and his worry about his upcoming conversation with Riley, Chase figures it'll take him a long time to fall asleep, so it's a surprise when the next thing he knows, he's hearing his alarm.

He shuts it off with one hand and groans. It's then that he notices that there's something warm pressed against his side. He figures it's Riley and that he must've moved closer to him sometime during the night. 

He rolls over, opens his eyes and promptly feels the air leave his lungs. 

Lying next to him in bed is Riley, but he's not a cat anymore. Riley's face is turned towards him and is slack with sleep where it's half-buried in a pillow. Chase wants to reach out a brush away the hair that's resting against Riley's forehead, but instead he finds himself staring at Riley in awe.

Riley must've heard the alarm or feel Chase shift on the bed, because it's soon afterwards that he groans softly and blinks opens his eyes. For a long moment, he simply stares at Chase, brows furrowed.

Chase smiles at him and whispers, "Welcome back."

Riley's eyes go wide, and using his elbows, he pushes himself up until he's sitting upright in the bed. Chase sits up as well. He immediately notices that Riley isn't under the covers but overtop of them, and that he's definitely not wearing any clothing. 

Riley lifts his hands in front of his face and stares at them in surprise. "I'm me again," he says, sounding as shocked as he looks.

"You're you again," Chase agrees, still feeling awed. 

Then Riley looks over at Chase and grins so wide that the skin around his eyes crinkle. Chase's heartbeat picks up, but for the first time in days, it's not because he's worried. It's caused primarily by his intense relief that Riley is back to his human self, but if Chase is honest with himself, it's caused by something else too.

Chase forces himself to look away from Riley and get out of bed. He goes through his dresser until he finds a pair of black sweatpants and a grey t-shirt that he thinks will fit Riley. He grabs a change of clothing for himself while he's at it. He offers Riley a smile as he hands him the clothing and then, his own clothing in hand, he excuses himself to the bathroom. 

*

Chase hears Riley talking to someone when he enters the living room. He wonders who Riley is talking to until he sees his comm in Riley's hand and hears Kendall say, "I'm glad, Riley. I'll let the others know."

"I'd appreciate that," Riley tells her.

"I do want you to come in though. I'd like to run some more scans to be sure that Catalyzer's energy is completely absent from your system."

"I'll be there before lunch," Riley promises her.

"I look forward to seeing you," Kendall says softly, the way she does when she's genuinely happy.

Riley lowers the comm and turns towards Chase. "Hey," he says.

"Riley," Chase says back, walking slowly towards him. Once he's standing in front of Riley, he takes a good look at him. Riley still has bedhead but otherwise it's difficult to tell that he just woke up. He's dressed in the clothing Chase left for him, and though the shirt and pants are a little big, they fit him well enough. 

What really catches Chase's attention is that the furrow that's often present between Riley's brows is absent and that his posture is relaxed. He doesn't look like someone who spent the past two days under stress.

"How are you feeling?" Chase asks.

Riley examines his hands again. "Pretty good all things considered. It's nice to be human again."

"I bet. It must've been strange being a cat and all," Chase says.

"It was," Riley says, and he tilts his head like he's thinking of something. "But it could've been worse." 

"Oh?" Chase asks, curious.

"We need to talk. About what happened before I was attacked," Riley says suddenly. 

Chase knew this conversation was coming, but he didn't expect it so soon and he expected to be the one to raise the subject. He swallows, nervous. "I've been wanting to talk to you, too."

To his surprise, Riley smiles at him. The expression on his face is so gentle that it makes Chase's heart break. "It's okay, Chase," he says. "I understand."

"No. It's not okay," Chase says. He doesn't like this -- he doesn't like the idea of Riley trying to spare his feelings when Chase was the one who hurt him. "When you told me you liked me, I wasn't upset. I was just surprised. I didn't mean to make you think that I wasn't interested in you, because I am..." He looks Riley in the eye. "I am very interested in you. 

"But my reaction was awful. I should've handled it better. I just..." He runs a hand through his hair. "I'm so, _so_ sorry I hurt you."

Riley's smile doesn't fade as he takes a step forward into Chase's space. He raises a hand to Chase's cheek, cupping it softly. "I know, Chase," he says. "I heard you when you told Ms. Morgan."

"Kendall?" Chase asks, momentarily thrown as to why Riley would be bringing her up, but then he remembers the conversation he had with Kendall the night after Riley disappeared. Riley was sitting right next to him during it, he realizes. He had heard his entire confession! 

Chase's mouth falls open. 

Riley's kind smile transforms into a grin. "Apology accepted," he says. 

"Really?" Chase asks, stunned both by Riley's admission of eavesdropping as well as his forgiveness. 

"Really," Riley replies. "And thanks for taking care of me when I was a cat."

There's still something Chase doesn't understand. "Why did you come to me? Why did you run from the park?"

"Catalyzer and Fury weren't interested in me, just my energem," Riley explains. He's still cupping Chase's face and he brushes his thumb against Chase's skin. "After Catalyzer turned me into a cat, I managed to hide it and when Fury figured out I didn't have it anymore, he chased me out of the park. I was making my way back towards the command center when I realized that I didn't know how I was going to get inside. Then it started to rain. Your place was the closest and I knew you'd let me in."

"You knew about my fondness for cats, is what you're saying," Chase says and finds himself smiling. "I'm happy you're back."

Riley smiles too and lifts his other hand so that he's holding Chase's face between his palms. "I'm happy you had my back," he says, and the longing plain in his eyes makes Chase shudder.

"Riley," Chase says and it sounds like a plea. 

"Can I kiss you?" Riley asks, tilting his head forward slightly, his gaze darting down to Chase's lips.

In reply, Chase leans forward, closes his eyes, and presses his lips against Riley's. It's a gentle kiss, and it makes something inside him come alive when he feels Riley kiss him back. Chase deepens the kiss slowly, wrapping one arm around Riley's back and pulling him closer. The other hand he buries in the hair at the base of Riley's skull. 

Riley moans against his mouth and Chase marvels that he is kissing Riley and that Riley seems to be enjoying it as much as he is.

All too soon, Riley pulls away from him. Riley's pupils are blown when Chase opens his eyes. "Was that okay?" Chase asks anyway, wanting to be sure.

Riley grins. "Better than okay. Can we do that again?"

Chase smiles and runs his hand through Riley's hair. Riley turns his head into the touch and it reminds Chase of a cat asking for affection. Chase huffs out a surprised laugh.

"What?" Riley asks.

"You're like cat," Chase tells him. When Riley opens his mouth to protest, Chase starts petting the side of Riley's head. Whatever Riley was going to say is lost when he makes a noise in his throat that sounds like a cross between a moan and a purr. Chase grins at him. "Luckily for you, I happen to like cats."

Riley rolls his eyes, but he's laughing as leans in to kiss Chase again.


End file.
